From March 8-12, 1986, Orlando will be the site of the ultimate in meetings: a convention of convention planners.Tourism officials are excited about the prospect.''It's the creme de la creme of conventions,'' said Cathy Kerns, vice president of tourism for the Greater Orlando Chamber of Commerce.Bob Stolz, vice president of the Hotel Royal Plaza and the Buena Vista Palace, said the convention is ''so essential that we fought for it to come here in March, during the peak of our busy tourist season.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Raindrops might be falling on their heads — occasionally, in drenching sheets — but Democrats here are still expected to listen to President Obama 's acceptance speech under open skies later this week. Obama's Thursday address at Bank of America Stadium will go on "rain or shine," campaign manager Jim Messina said Tuesday — at least as long as it doesn't pose a safety hazard. Convention planners said that Tuesday morning, when the decision was made, was the last possible point at which they believed they could pull off a relatively organized switch to an indoor venue. Weather forecasters say there is a 40% chance of thunderstorms Thursday night, and scattered showers have bedeviled those who arrived early for this week's convention.

The Orange County Convention Center has signed marketing deals with Central Florida's three theme-park giants -- Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld Orlando. Under the deals, the three megaresorts will become "Gold Key Members" to the convention center, paying the county $125,000 a year in cash and products for up to 10 years. The park products will include items such as park tickets, food and drinks with which convention-center officials can wine and dine trade-show planners who are trying to decide where to put their shows.

TAMPA, Fla. – Republican convention officials plan to stick with their current three-day convention schedule, but are keeping a careful eye on Isaac, as the tropical storm heads toward the Gulf Coast. "Obviously, our first concern is for the people who are in the path of the storm," Mitt Romney campaign strategist Russ Schriefer said at the convention's Monday morning media briefing. Convention officials are taking a "wait and see attitude," he said, adding that he was "not gonna answer the hypothetical ‘what if, what if'" questions about possible changes to the Tuesday through Thursday schedule.

HATE MAIL. There have been television ads, solemn public statements and canceled conventions to protest the state's sales tax on services. Now, some corporations are taking a more unconventional approach: Convention promoters at the Peabody Orlando on International Drive said some of their quarterly newsletters, mailed out last month to convention planners at various companies and organizations, have been mailed back with ''repeal the ad tax'' scrawled on...

ORLANDO BOUND? The Professional Convention Management Association, a group of convention planners for mainly medical groups, is considering moving its administrative offices from Birmingham, Ala., to Orlando. The association, which met last week in Orlando, is made up of convention and meeting planners who book major conventions like those of the American Medical Association and the American Heart Association. Roy Evans, the group's executive director, is high on Orlando but says he's looking for something special.

Republican National Convention planners say it may be time to bring back former President Richard Nixon at this summer's nominating party. Nixon, who resigned in disgrace in 1974, has not attended a Republican convention since 1972, when he was nominated for his second term. Maida Pearson, who is making arrangements for the August Republican National Convention, says the wounds have healed and it's time to recognize Nixon, 79, for his accomplishments and not for the Watergate break-in that led to his downfall.

With less than five weeks before the Republican National Convention gets under way, the chief fund-raising group for the gathering must come up with another $3 million to $4 million. Two senior Republican Party sources said California GOP leaders had not met their commitments. In California, however, state GOP leaders and convention planners said the San Diego host committee had met its more than $11 million commitment and was being asked to raise a bigger share of the convention's $30 million budget.

Elvis and sequins usually aren't subjects for theological debate, but they were among the more unusual topics in proposed resolutions at this week's Southern Baptist Convention.Pastor Clarence Hopson of Broadview, Ill., unsuccessfully proposed a resolution opposing the much ballyhooed Elvis Presley stamp. He criticized the new stamp, saying it recognized someone ''who specialized in singing worldly and secular songs.'' That, he said, sends ''the wrong message to young people that we in fact idolize, respect, and/or worship popular musical heroes whose death resulted primarily from a lack of godliness and drug abuse.

KISSIMMEE - Osceola is going to be opera county in a couple of years - or at least ``Opryland.'' Construction is under way for Opryland Hotel Florida, scheduled to open in February 2002. Opryland Hotel is the biggest entertainment venture in recent county history. Deal makers worked for more than two years to land the hotel at International Drive and the Osceola Parkway - about five minutes from Walt Disney World. The county has pledged $92 million in tax incentives to the project in the next three decades.

The Orange County Convention Center has signed marketing deals with Central Florida's three theme-park giants -- Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld Orlando. Under the deals, the three megaresorts will become "Gold Key Members" to the convention center, paying the county $125,000 a year in cash and products for up to 10 years. The park products will include items such as park tickets, food and drinks with which convention-center officials can wine and dine trade-show planners who are trying to decide where to put their shows.

When meeting planners and professionals from throughout the Southeast gather later this month at the Adam's Mark Resort in Daytona Beach, they will have more to talk about than the weather and the beach. The chance of a double-dip recession has the convention industry worried, just as the industry has been showing signs of life after taking a pummeling in the past year. "The industry did take a hit, but people are starting to travel a bit more. Orlando and Las Vegas are the two areas that came back faster than anyone," Ken McAvoy, senior vice president of Reed Exhibition Cos., the nation's largest convention management company, said Wednesday.

EUSTIS -- For Ralph Alderman, life is one big party that needs planning. As a convention resource specialist, it's Alderman's job to make sure those who hire him get exactly what they ask for. "We work with all of the major hotels in Orlando to provide transportation, entertainment, tours, sound and lighting equipment, stenography, photography, flowers, special foods and theme parties for businesses from all over the world for their meetings or conventions,"...

KISSIMMEE - Osceola is going to be opera county in a couple of years - or at least ``Opryland.'' Construction is under way for Opryland Hotel Florida, scheduled to open in February 2002. Opryland Hotel is the biggest entertainment venture in recent county history. Deal makers worked for more than two years to land the hotel at International Drive and the Osceola Parkway - about five minutes from Walt Disney World. The county has pledged $92 million in tax incentives to the project in the next three decades.

When Ocean Center director Rick Hamilton asked his director of convention sales and marketing how to increase business, Yulita Osuba's response was brief.''Give me a support staff,'' she said she told Hamilton.Her wish came true last month. That was when her department merged with the marketing staff at the Daytona Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau in an effort to bolster convention marketing efforts.Osuba and Sally Gardiner, meetings and sales coordinator for the convention bureau, said they have done more than just merge.

With less than five weeks before the Republican National Convention gets under way, the chief fund-raising group for the gathering must come up with another $3 million to $4 million. Two senior Republican Party sources said California GOP leaders had not met their commitments. In California, however, state GOP leaders and convention planners said the San Diego host committee had met its more than $11 million commitment and was being asked to raise a bigger share of the convention's $30 million budget.

This week has introduced the innocent young to what columnist Murray Kempton accurately described as the ''quadrennial assault on decency and reason'' -- national political conventions.Innocents tuning in on the Democrats in Atlanta can be excused for asking a question that has been around since 1948, when television cameras were first pointed at the podiums: Are we having fun yet?Too often the answer is implicit in the question. The only respite from mind-boggling boredom is the rare interruption of electrifying oratory such as Jesse Jackson's on Tuesday evening.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Raindrops might be falling on their heads — occasionally, in drenching sheets — but Democrats here are still expected to listen to President Obama 's acceptance speech under open skies later this week. Obama's Thursday address at Bank of America Stadium will go on "rain or shine," campaign manager Jim Messina said Tuesday — at least as long as it doesn't pose a safety hazard. Convention planners said that Tuesday morning, when the decision was made, was the last possible point at which they believed they could pull off a relatively organized switch to an indoor venue. Weather forecasters say there is a 40% chance of thunderstorms Thursday night, and scattered showers have bedeviled those who arrived early for this week's convention.

Organizers of next year's Republican National Convention (Aug. 12-15) have scrapped the idea of holding the final night of events outdoors at San Diego's Jack Murphy Stadium. The decision to stick with the city's convention center, announced Tuesday, means some convention attendees will not be seated inside the hall. Instead, they will be at nearby sites connected to the convention hall through closed-circuit television.